| FOR |
|
AGAINST |
| Truth
Any honourable endeavour should be based on
discovering, understanding and representing the world to
others,
as it is.
When we don't know, we should say so.
When we ought to know, we should find out.
If the truth paints us in a bad light, we should
welcome the view, walk into the light and learn how we need
to change.
Honest people move towards facts and learn
from them. They change facts by changing the world. |
Assumptions, Half-truths & Lies
Manipulating the facts in ways that suit me, you, our group,
our country, our traditions, our self-image or anything
else.
De-emphasising inconvenient but relevant facts.
Political Correctness where it prevents us from telling
it like it is.
Diplomatic language of the kind sometimes used to reach
consensus by burying the difficult areas in deliverately
ambiguous terminology.
|
Honourable behaviour
Doing what's right
because it's the right thing to do.
|
Self-interest driving behaviour
Doing what it takes to reach personal goals. |
Plain speaking
Using simple language to convey ideas clearly to as many
as possible.
Calling a spade a spade.
Grounding all that we say in common-sense reality as ordinary
people experience it.
|
Writing to impress, obscure or control
Legalese, medicalese, technical jargon, pompus nonsense
- in contracts and agreements, or anywhere else.
(A "left lower extremity" is a leg, by the way)
The appallingly unclear way our laws are currently written.
Becoming disconnected from the real world.
|
Equality of Opportunity
All men and women deserve the same opportunities in life.
We should structure and fund society to meet this goal.
Recognise that.
Discrimination on grounds of effort.
Support for those who want to improve themselves.
|
Equality of existance (some people want to work harder
than others - this will naturally generate inequality, and
should only be corrected through the efforts of the less-motivated
individuals).
The class system.
Discrimination on grounds of accent, height, weight, gender,
race or disability.
Support for those who would rather not work.
|
Openness & Transparency
Governments and public bodies should be open to public
scrutiny.
So you should be able to see your medical records, your
employee records at work, and any other records kept on
you.
|
Smoke-filled Rooms. Back-room deals.
Organisational Opacity
"Punter mentality" - contempt for the public.
Secrets.
The Old Boys network.
Do-as-you're-told.
Know your place.
|
Alignment of Theory and Practice
|
Saying but
not doing |
Questioning the way things are
Asking difficult questions
Working to make things better
|
Accepting the status quo without question
Keeping your head down
Not rocking the boat |
Personal accountability
We should all be accountable for our actions to the rest
of our society.
|
Hiding behind confidentiality clauses
Accountability seeming beneath dignity
|
Contribution
We should be contributing members of our society. We made
it, we maintain it. We own it. It ends up being what we
make it - good and bad.
|
Entitlement
My employer owes me a lifetime of employment, and a salary
which meets my wishes.
My community owes me a job doing what I like to do for
as long as I want to do it.
The state should accommodate my personal weaknesses whatever
they are.
Person freedom means I get to crap on you.
|
Action - DOING STUFF
"We will ..." (we did)
|
Yapping from the comfort of your armchair.
"They should..."
|
Accountability
Fact-based performance reviews & meritocratic follow-up.
Giving credit where it is due.
|
"Avoiding unpleasantness"
Promotion by service length, date, accent or height.
Claiming credit for the work of others.
|
Root cause analysis.
Process analysis.
Find what went wrong, then institute structural change
to prevent it happening again.
Fire those you can't fix.
|
Sticking plasters
Head-in-sand management
Short-term palliatives, distractions,
"Drawing a line" under disasters without making
changes.
Keeping the cretins because no-one has the balls to remove
them, or they're too senior, or well-paid, or well-connected.
|
| Data-driven, intellectual
problem solving |
Impulse driven, arrogant
edicting |
| High quality,
gifted, hard working managers |
No managers, bad managers, too many managers, arrogant
managers, over-paid managers
|
Quality political interviewing
Discovering & reporting the truth
|
Sound bites
Programs structured to give a snifter but no understanding
of the issues.
|
